| Donna Summer |
Index for Donna |
Limousines in Donna |
Website Links For Donna |
Information AboutDonna Summer |
|
collection ''The Donna Summer Anthology'']] Donna Summer (born '''LaDonna Andre Gaines''' on December 31 , 1948 ) is an American Pop Music Singer best known for a string of Disco music hits in the 1970s that earned her the title "Queen of Disco". Career Summer was a rarity in the 1970s Disco scene because her career began before the disco explosion and continued afterward. Even though she is one of the best-known artists of the disco era, Summer has covered different genres including R&B , Rock And Roll and Gospel music, earning her Grammy Award s in those categories. Her work is still critically acclaimed, and she remains one of the few disco artists accepted by modern rock critics. Born in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts , Summer began performing in her church's choir. She later joined a rock group called Crow. A few months before graduating from high school, Summer dropped out and joined the German productions of '' Hair '', '' Godspell '', and '' Show Boat '' over the next few years. She eventually settled in Europe , joining the Viennese Folk Opera and participating in numerous musicals. In 1971, Summer released "Sally Go 'Round the Roses", her first solo recording. The single was unsuccessful, however, and Summer had to wait until 1974, the same year she gave birth to daughter Mimi Sommer , to launch a solo career. After resettling in Munich, Germany , Summer married Helmut Sommer ("Summer" is an anglicization of his last name) and did various musical jobs in studios and theaters for several years, including the pop group FamilyTree from 1974-75. Georgio Moroder & Casablanca Records Singing backup vocals for Three Dog Night , she met Giorgio Moroder and Peter Bellotte in the studio. The new team created their first hit, the European hit, "The Hostage". ''Lady of the Night'', Summer's first LP, was released in 1974 with success in Europe. Next Summer recorded " Love To Love You Baby ", which was a huge European and American hit. The sexual moans and breathy falsetto demonstrated from the beginning that her dance music would be most influenced by rock and roll. The recording session has become legendary. Only a demo session, Summer insisted the studio lights be dimmed to assist her get into character. From the beginning, Summer sang as an actress. One of the hallmarks of her recording career was implemented: she would always sing to benefit the song, not just belt it in full voice. Casablanca Records soon began distributing the single in the United States . '' Love To Love You Baby '', critically acclaimed then and now, is notable for including a seventeen-minute version of the title track. "Love to Love You Baby" has been called the "mother of all Maxi-singles ," and established a pattern that made Summer unusual in the disco world: she focused just as much, if not more, on full-length albums and extended songs instead of singles. Each song was released with three or four different versions of varying lengths. Continuing to work with Moroder and Bellotte, '' Love Trilogy '' (1976) was released and contained the #1 dance track, "Try Me, I Know We Can Make It/Could It Be Magic." '' Four Seasons Of Love '' (1976) served up more #1 dance hits, and continued Summer's success on the R&B (Soul) charts in America. ''I Remember Yesterday'' (1977) included the international hit single "I Feel Love", the first hit song recorded with an entirely synthesized backing track. This song, which became a major hit, is enormously influential in the development of Disco , Electronica , Techno Music , and New Wave --thanks to Moroder's innovative production. Blondie covered the tune in early concert tours, and upcoming New Wave bands of the 1980s such as New Order and Depeche Mode borrowed endlessly from the song's modernism and heavy synthesized loops. "I Feel Love" abolished restrictions for synthesized music. Combined with David Bowie's work, "I Feel Love" and similar Summer/Moroder tracks led to the development of a new British rock sound. Once Upon A Time was released soon after; it was another concept album, presenting a modern day Fairy Tale of '' Cinderella ''. It still stands as the single greatest artistic achievement of the disco era. Slick, graceful, and consistent, the LP's influence cannot be over-stated. Tracks such as Now I Need You and Working The Midnight Shift sound as fresh and modern as if recorded just yesterday. Produced in four Acts, the LP was extensively played in dance clubs in full, and explored contemporary themes of paranoia, isolation, and the drug culture. After acting (and releasing "Last Dance" a Grammy & Oscar winning song on the soundtrack) in the comedy '' Thank God It's Friday '', Summer released a live album '' Live And More '', which became another smash hit album and included the 17-minute long studio recorded cover of " MacArthur Park Suite ". In 1979, Summer performed "Mimi's Song" (written for her daughter) at the Music For UNICEF Concert , broadcast worldwide from the United Nations General Assembly . She donated the royalties from the song to UNICEF . As fans and critics were taking notice of Summer's string of hits, she caught everyone by surprise with the release of her next album. Showcasing her strong writing ability and rock and roll roots, '' Bad Girls '' (1979) was one the most important albums of the decade. Its fusion of rock, blues, and dance would indicate the direction of music for decades to come. The only difference between tracks like "Our Love" and "Lucky" from, say, the Eurythmic's "Here Comes the Rain" or "Sweet Dreams" are that Summer's are produced four years earlier and rock harder. Summer's vocals on the hit "Hot Stuff" were revelatory, if not feminist. Had a female ever before so openly, honestly, or urgently lamented about finding sex....and not sex with a particular man, but anyone who might answer the phone first? This type of sexual liberation for women previously had been only acceptable from male artists, and the song leaped to #1 in just four short weeks. Her ease as switching genres did not go unnoticed, and "Hot Stuff" won Summer the Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocalist. When a greatest hits album, ''On the Radio'', became the first #1 hit LP of the 1980's, Summer became the first artist with three consecutive #1 double albums. In just a year, Summer charted four #1 pop hits and three additional Top Ten hits. Twice in 1979 she had two different hits in the U.S. Top Three (at the same time) - ("Hot Stuff" & "Bad Girls", then "Dim All the Lights" & "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)" - the latter song, a duet with Barbra Streisand , was a US #1 & UK #3 hit). Also in 1979, Summer toured with the group Brooklyn Dreams , with whom she had the hit single, "Heaven Knows". She married Bruce Sedano of the group the following year. In early 1980, capping off the wildly successful previous year, Donna Summer & Casablanca Records created a high-rated US TV special (on ABC) showcasing videos and live performances of her biggest hits. "Starting Over" (written by Summer) from the TV special was recorded by Dolly Parton and became a #1 Country hit. Summer then decided to leave Casablanca and sign with the new Geffen Records . Geffen Records Her first Geffen album was ''The Wanderer'' (1980), which included more Rock And Roll and R&B influences, including the Top 10 title cut and two classic hard rocking tracks, " Cold Love " and " Nightlife ". While it proved difficult to get rock radio to play music from a black female performer, her rock hits did equally as well as rock newcomers Pat Benatar and Deborah Harry . The follow-up album, ''I'm a Rainbow'', was halted mid way through production and not released until 1996. Geffen thought she should return to dance music, and he fired Moroder and Bellotte, her longtime songwriters, and paired her with music legend Quincy Jones on the self-titled album ''Donna Summer''. It produced the dance hit "Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)", Top 40 "Woman in Me" and the Vangelis penned "State of Independence". The latter became an international smash with its New Age feel and star chorus that included Christopher Cross and Michael Jackson . This song was the inspiration for Quincy Jones and Jackson to later create "We Are the World". In 1983, Summer released ''She Works Hard for the Money'', which included another feminist anthem with the well-remembered hit of the same name, and two landmark videos, including "Unconditional Love". Summer was the first female black artist played on MTV , and in heavy rotation. She capped this era with an HBO concert film. Summer also won two Grammy Award s for Best Inspirational Performance for the songs "He's A Rebel" and "Forgive Me." Summer's career has not been without controversy. Early in her career her music was often banned in many countries, because of its sexual content. There were early rumors that she was actually a man in Drag . Her straight-forward approach to becoming a " Born-again Christian " was received tepidly by critics and the public. In the mid-1980s, an unpublished rumor that she made anti-gay remarks alienated a large part of her fan base. However, Summer has defiantly said in interviews that she never made the remarks attributed to her. In the late 1980s, the rumor was published in a news item and Summer took legal action. The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. Summer has continued to show her support of her gay fans with appearances at charity functions such as the GMHC ( Gay Men's Health Crisis ) benefit at Carnegie Hall . While she remained hot on the U.S. R&B charts, it took most of the decade to rebound in the dance clubs. Stock, Aitken & Waterman, and beyond Summer slowed her career in the mid-1980s with the arrival of two daughters, Brooklyn and Amanda Sudano but regained momentum again in 1989 with her Stock Aitken Waterman collaboration ''Another Place and Time'' album. The first single, "This Time I Know It's for Real", became a huge hit, first in Europe and later in the United States; and second single "I Don't Wanna Get Hurt", brought her back again to the top of the charts. In 1991, Summer released the CD ''Mistaken Identity'', which included songs about racism (the title track) and the first Gulf War ("Let There Be Peace"), and added a top twenty R&B hit to her discography. Throughout the 1990s , Summer continued recording; she performed a duet with Liza Minnelli ("Does He Love You?") and produced numerous dance hits such as "Melody of Love", which became the Billboard number one dance hit of 1994; "I Will Go with You", a cover of the beautiful Andrea Bocelli song "Con Te Partirò"; "You're So Beautiful", a club anthem she co-wrote with legendary DJ Tony Moran, as well as her #1 U.S dance chart hit "Love is The Healer". A new remix of "I Feel Love" was a big UK hit all over again in 1995. In 1998, Summer was the first artist to receive a Grammy award for Best Dance Recording (for her hit "Carry On"). In 1999, Summer held a televised live concert on VH-1 called Donna Summer - Live and More Encore. She performed a string of her original hits, as well as new material, including an updated version of "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)" performed with Australian pop diva, Tina Arena . She also updated "Dim All The Lights", singing the song the way she originally wrote it (for Rod Stewart), once again indicating her strong ties to rock music. A CD and DVD of the concert was released shortly after and returned her to the top half of the album charts. In 2000, Summer performed the title track, "The Power of One", for . This was subsequently remixed. In 2003, Donna Summer released a greatest-hits compilation called ''The Journey'', which rocketed into the UK Top 10 in the following year, thanks to her appearance on on "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)" - which appeared on the ''Discomania'' soundtrack album. On September 20, 2004, Donna was among the first artists to be inducted into the newly formed and Barry White and 2) Record Inductees for her classic hit " I Feel Love ". Summer added to her credits in October 2004 , when she performed " God Bless America " during the seventh-inning stretch at Game 2 of the 2004 World Series at Boston's Fenway Park . As of 2005, Summer has received 5 Grammy Awards and 6 American Music Awards, as well as 24 gold and platinum certifications in the United States and 19 gold and silver certifications in Great Britain. In the summer of 2005, Donna toured for the first time in 5 years and launched her official Web site ( {Link without Title} ) Globally, she has sold over 100,000,000 records. She also got a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame for her musical accomplishments in 1994. Today, Summer and her family make their home in Nashville, Tennessee . Recent reports from news sources suggest that Summer is returning soon with a new studio album (her first in a decade). She is touring extensively in mid-2006. Discography Notes: U.S. Top data: Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Dance Music/Club Play and Billboard Hot R&B for singles, Billboard 200 for albums; UK Top data for singles and albums is from UK Singles Chart . Main albums
Compilations
Singles
See also
External links
|